Surrounded by Doctors
by sunsetstargazer
Summary: This is about my o/c Charlotte who is Derek's niece and moves from England to live in Meredith's house, set around the beginning of Season 5 but doesn't follow the main storyline. My first attempt at writing so please enjoy :)
1. Chapter 1

Surrounded by Doctors

 _A/N This is going to be a series about my o/c Charlotte (haven't given her a last name yet but may do at some point) from Charlotte's perspective as an outsider living with the characters of Grey's and will cover anything that I want to put in (or if anyone suggests something then I might do those as well) probably going to be focussed primarily on hurt/comfort and maybe some funny or cute situations but we'll see how it goes, this is my first attempt at writing any sort of story or fanfic so please be kind but suggestions and constructive criticism welcome. Disclaimer: I own nothing of Grey's Anatomy and I'm getting nothing from doing this it's just all for fun_ _._

Intro:

\- Charlotte is 20 years old (turns 21 on July 24th) and has done her Bachelors degree in Biology at home in England already.

\- She is the cousin/niece of Derek (Derek's mums sisters granddaughter) and Charlotte will end up renting the loft room (the one that I think Lexie uses at one stage in the show though I'm not 100% sure it exists so may be a bit of creative license) in Meredith's house and so lives with all the doctors, this is set in about late season 4/season 5 so basically when Alex, Izzie, George, Meredith and Cristina are all still interns and Derek and Meredith are living together in Meredith's house and all the other interns.

Chapter 1

Charlotte's p.o.v.

I never did quite work out how it is that I've ended up living in a house with so many doctors, for someone who usually blushes and gets shy just by seeing a regular doctor I must be crazy to live with a house full of them now. It works well enough though just because 99% of the time that I'm with them they are just like normal people.

This whole thing started last year in October when I told my parents that not only did I want to get my Ph.D. but that I want to do it in America, I've always wanted to go to America and this feels like the best way to do it, I get to go out there study and maybe do a little travelling and get away from the life I have back home in London and then at the end of it all I can always come back to England and get a job if I decide America isn't for me after all. The conversation with my parents was probably the most tense that I've had they have always loved and supported me and would always tell me that it's my life for the taking but I could see it in my mum's eyes that she never thought that I would want to roam so far away as America. Eventually my mum agreed that it was something I'd always wanted to do and that if I was sure then I should apply to American colleges to go to next September.

The problem is I didn't really know where to go, I've never been particularly drawn to any particular state and so I was spoiled for choice in terms of where I could go. What I didn't know was that my mum, sneaky and conniving, as she is already had a plan. My grandma moved to England from the US taking my then 15-year-old mum with her and starting a new life but never lost contact with her family back in the US. So, it wasn't particularly surprising to me when my mum announced a week later that she'd contacted my aunt ( _A/N this would be Derek's mum in case all these relatives are getting confusing)_ and had been running up the long distance phone bill talking to her all night. She told me that as it turns out my cousin, or maybe he's my uncle who knows really, lives in Seattle near the university there and his mum insists that I should go there because that way I could meet him and then I wouldn't be on my own completely. So that's the current plan, I applied to Seattle University to do my Ph.D. in Biology and got accepted to start next year, and so at the beginning of July I'm moving to Seattle to get set up and hopefully find somewhere to live.

-July 2009-

Oh my god it's time, I'm shaking as I step out of the taxi at Gatwick Airport and hand over some notes, not really bothering to check if I've just wildly over-tipped the guy or under-paid him. My mum wanted to come to the airport to give me a final hug but I insisted it's better this way so I had dinner last night and stayed up late talking to her and she was up at 4:30 this morning to help me with my inevitable last-minute panic and to drag out my suitcases to the cab while I just held my rucksack and tried to remember why I was doing this. My mum though seemed to be a rock and barely showed any hint that she was upset and instead hugged me for longer than was maybe strictly necessarily and then practically shoved me in the back. I think the cabbie may have tried to start up a conversation but I was too busy trying to imprint every little detail of my hometown and England in general in my mind since this'll be my last chance for quite some time. At least there's a bright side to this, I'm not going to have to stay in a hotel when I get there, I called Derek and he said that his mum had already talked to him and there is a room available in the house he lives in with his girlfriend, they have been trying to rent it out anyway so I'm welcome to stay with them, which is a relief but I'm still nervous because I've never met any of my family in America and this is going to be so strange.

Well deep breath and here goes nothing and any other cliché your supposed to think in this situation and I walk into the terminal and head for the check in desks, luckily since I've gotten such an early flight the queues all look short and I spot the right desk for my flight to Seattle. After a few minutes waiting behind a family who look like a travelling circus with the amount of stuff they have, I walk up to the desk and hand over my boarding pass and passport, then heave my suitcases up onto the scales and watching as they disappear away on the conveyor belt. Security is again pretty empty since it's only 5:30am and I head for a little coffee shop to get some breakfast before my flight, I'm hoping it won't be as bad as flights I've had in the past because I always used to get sick on planes when I was younger and even now I know the plane food is going to turn my stomach so might as well eat something now cause it's going to be a long flight. I sat down with my coffee and sausage sandwich, at a little table by the window and people watched for a bit while I ate.

It got to about 6:30 and I figured it's time to head over to my gate and so I found one of those big screens with all the flights on them and got my gate number and headed over to it stopping for a minute to buy a big bottle of water and some mints in WH Smiths, and walked up just as they announced my row so I walked into the plane said a quick "hi" to the lady waiting at the door and went to my seat, getting settled in with my ipod. Hopefully I'll get some more sleep, but I know it's more likely I'll watch 5 movies back to back and hide in the toilet from the smell of the plane food. Well Seattle here I come.


	2. Chapter 2

_A/N Bit of a longer chapter this time. Please read and review so I know if you're enjoying it or if you have any suggestions_ _Unfortunately I still own nothing of Grey's._

Chapter 2

Charlotte's p.o.v.

As I predicted I didn't manage to get any sleep on the flight, but at least I got in a couple of movies before I started to feel queasy, it was the peanuts that did it they stunk out the whole plane and I had to bolt for the loo, lucky I was on the aisle seat and no-one seemed to question why I was in there for nearly half an hour. Once the peanuts were eaten I managed to eat some of the food they brought out but gave up after only really picking it and just had a few of my mints instead. So by the time we touched down in Seattle I was desperate to get out of the plane, once I had a quick stop to splash some water on my face I was ready and got through security pretty quick. I got my bags off the carousel and stopped for a minute off to the side and checked what the time in Seattle was, since it's nearly 8pm English time. 11:56am! Well how am I going to last the rest of the day, maybe I can take a nap when I get to Derek's. I've got the address in my notebook, and so without giving myself a chance to hesitate I extend the handles on both my suitcases and start dragging them out towards the taxi stand.

While I'm going through the crowds of people a sign catches my eye for some reason, I pause to look at it, "Charlotte looking for Derek Shepherd?". That cannot be a coincidence and so I look up to see who is holding the sign, and freeze, is that him? The guy who I can only presume is my uncle is by far the most handsome guy I've ever seen, he is scouring the room with his deep blue eyes under perfectly tousled brown hair obviously looking for someone who matches what he already knows about me. It's at this point that it occurs to me just how little I know about him and he about me, I know that he's a doctor at Seattle Grace Mercy West hospital and that he lives with his girlfriend Meredith and some other people though I never found out anything about them. The fact that he's a doctor did intimidate me a bit at first but my mum insisted it would be fine, or in her words "oh you're not going to get awkward with him are you just because you don't like doctors, he's just a normal person". He only really knows my name, age, and that I'm his niece who his mum told him is coming to Seattle and needs somewhere to live. I hadn't realised he was going to be there to meet me at the airport though I just presumed he'd be too busy being a doctor or whatever it may be to come pick up some 20-year-old who he doesn't even really know. Too late to back out now though and it saves me the taxi I guess, so I take a deep breath letting it out more as a huff and walk over to stand a few feet in front of him and cough awkwardly.

His eyes snap towards me and for a split second he glances up and down me as if appraising me, before his face shifts into the kind of grin that I can imagine has most women going weak at the knees, but since it's coming from my uncle whose mum has talked way too much about him with many cute childhood shenanigans it loses a lot of its sting.

I step forward and offer my hand "Hi, I'm Charlotte I'm guessing you must be Derek my uncle?".

He reaches out as well taking my hand and shaking it, his hands are surprisingly warm and strong feeling, "Hi, Yes I'm Derek, sorry for springing up on you like this but my only surgery for this afternoon was cancelled and I decided I would come over to meet you off the plane because it's a long way from London and you probably don't want to be dealing with trying to get a cab. Not to mention finding a house you've never seen before. Anyway, I'm going on, let me help you with these" As he says this he reaches over taking the handles of my suitcases from me and starts pulling them over towards the exit of the airport. After a second I realise I'm supposed to be following him and quickly jog a few steps to catch up and walk behind him as he goes across to the car parks on the other side of the road. He keeps glancing over his shoulder at me and I can't seem to work out why, when he starts smirking I finally give in "what?".

"It's just you know you don't have to stay 3 feet behind me right, I don't know if it's a British thing but most people would want to talk or at least walk next to the person they're with. I won't bite you know" *cue ladies' man grin*.

"Oh yeah right sorry I'm in my own world, just tired" I said ducking my head a bit before walking up to be next to him where he's stopped to let me catch up.

"Don't worry about it, so how was your flight, must have been about 11 hours from London?"

"Going on about 13 hours travelling now, but I only slept a couple of hours last night so I'm pretty much ready to drop right now"

Derek gives a quick laugh, pressing the button for the lift in the car park "I can imagine, can't be that dissimilar to the shifts I've done at hospitals over the years, they push you to the point where I've seen more than one person attempting to sleep standing up"

"Doesn't help that I'm not exactly the best flyer, I used to get sick constantly on flights when I was a kid, and it may not be as bad as that now but I still lost my breakfast when they brought out the peanuts because of the smell, but luckily I had my mints so I managed to make it through the rest of the flight without too much trouble, though you probably don't need to know that cause it's kinda gross" I pulled out my bag of mint imperials and shook them offering them to Derek who took one and I popped one in my mouth as well before sliding them back in the front pocket of my bag.

"Trust me I've had much worse than that to deal with" he smiles again a bit more natural this time though which helps me relax, what is it with this guy and his smiles.

We step out of the lift and I go to walk off up the aisle but he stops at the first car in the row, a gleaming black Porsche Cayenne. I can't help it when my jaw drops open because I've never considered myself or my family to be poor in any way but I don't know anyone who owns anything close to how much this car must cost, this can't be his car surely. But he puts the suitcases upright and reaches into his pocket to get a key pressing a button and the lights flash so I guess it must be. Before I've quite registered it he's already round the back loading my suitcases into the boot, and I quickly shut my mouth and rush round to help him. "Geez, what have you got in these?"

"I like books so I brought most of my favourite ones with me, trust me there's a lot more that I've got my mum posting over to me, but these are the ones I refused to leave" I step in and help him push the suitcase in to the back before putting my rucksack in on top. I go to walk round to the passenger side but open the door and blush in embarrassment when I realise that I'm about to get in the driver's side and Derek is stood behind me looking confused. "Sorry forgot that cars are the other way around in this country" he simply laughs and steps round to get into the car shutting the door and rolling down the window.

"Well things will probably be very different then but at least you're off to a good start" followed by a wink. I groan and walk round getting in the actual passenger side I can already tell he's going to be interesting to live with.

"It's probably going to be about an hour back to the house from here so you can try and get some sleep if you want or watch the world go by or whatever you fancy" he says as he puts on his seat belt starting the engine.

He then looks over at me flicking his eyes to the seat belt on my side "oh right yes, sorry" I say putting my seatbelt on as well and settling down in the seat for the long ride.

About 20 minutes in Derek has the radio on playing some rock song and is humming along as he drives and I've been half asleep most of the way, when suddenly I feel the familiar rolling sensation in my stomach and sit up straighter in the seat. Derek glances over "Hey I thought you were sleeping?... Something wrong, you look a bit pale".

"I was for a bit but I suddenly feel nauseous, I haven't really eaten since yesterday because of getting sick on the plane ride. I can handle it though it happens every time I go on a plane." I look back out the window thinking that'll be the end of it, but Derek is suddenly reaching across into the glove compartment at a traffic light and pulls out some kind of chocolate bar and hands it to me.

"Here I don't have anything else in here but that should do until we get back to the house". I unwrap it and take a bite and he looks over pleased and I lean back against the window eating the rest of the bar quickly. It feels good to have some food in my stomach but after another 10 minutes I realise that maybe sweets weren't the best idea at this point and the feeling in my stomach returns far worse than it was before. I sit up suddenly dimly noticing that I've made Derek jump "Pull over".

He looks over alarmed at how pale I've gone and quickly pulls into an empty car park. I throw of my seatbelt and make a run for the bin at the end of the row and start throwing up the chocolate bar I've just eaten and bile until I'm just dry heaving which eventually tapers off as well. I straighten up turning around, and am surprised to see Derek is stood only a few feet away looking sympathetic. He holds out the bottle of water I'd forgotten I had from my bag and I rinse my mouth out spitting into the bin before taking a few cautious sips. "I'm so sorry I don't usually get this bad anymore it was a really long flight and I should have tried harder to eat on the plane".

He holds up a hand to get me to stop talking "It's fine Charlotte don't worry I've been a doctor for a while now and if I couldn't handle someone throwing up then I'd be seriously worried about my career choice, at least you didn't do it in the car" he holds out his hand and I realise that he's gotten my mints out of my bag as well for me, so I take one and suck on it to get rid of the taste in my mouth.

"Thanks" I said. "No problem, are you ok? I guess I should have realised that was going to happen from what you'd already told me" he said tilting his head to the side and looking me up and down eyes eventually resting back on my face. "Yes, I'm good now, just caught me by surprise, wow I haven't gotten car sick in years unless my dad is driving because he is horrific at it, always having to brake suddenly"

"Ah sorry I wasn't really thinking about the car making you sick again, do you want to stay here for a minute to let it settle before hitting the road again?"

"No, I'm good now nothing left anyway as disgusting as that sounds, so we might as well get going" I walk back over to the car and get back in pulling my seatbelt back on and shutting the door. He goes around and gets in handing me my mints "I'm guessing these might help", and pulls out of the car park back onto the road.

The rest of the journey goes by quickly and I guess I must have fallen asleep because before I know it Derek is shaking my shoulder to wake me up and I look over towards him blearily. "We're here". I nod and get out looking up at the house, it's a lot bigger than I expected three stories high and looks more like a mansion than a house but considering all the other houses are this size I'm guessing Americans just have bigger houses in general. I walk to the boot and pull my rucksack off the top slinging it over my shoulder and help Derek pull my suitcases out and follow him again up to the front door where he unlocks it. "I'll get you a set of keys soon but for now I think we've got a spare set somewhere that you can use for now".

The inside of the house is mostly browns and beiges and feels very lived in and comfortable, I put my suitcases by the door and wonder into the lounge. Derek gives me a rundown of where stuff is downstairs and then picks up my bags and heads upstairs, I follow him up and it comes out onto a landing with about 5 or 6 closed doors, he continues along the hallway and opens the furthest door which leads onto another staircase. We go up and it opens into a fairly big bedroom with an en-suite bathroom at the end, this is better than any room I've had before since I've been used to sharing a tiny flat with 2 flatmates in London. "So, this'll be your room, there's not much just the basics and we still need to get some bedding for the bed but I can drive over to Wal Mart this afternoon and you can pick some up but otherwise it should have everything you need".

"No, it's perfect, I was expecting to be in a hotel and then maybe living with whoever I ended up renting from so you offering this is brilliant". I walk over and put my rucksack down on the bed and he puts my suitcases against the wall.

"I'll leave you to settle in, I was going to go and make a sandwich for lunch, if you want one because you really should try again at eating after earlier" he says pulling his eyebrows together and staring at me suggesting he wasn't going to be taking no for an answer.

"Yeah, you're probably right, I'll just get unpack a few things and be down in a minute" I say smiling and he nods his approval before going back downstairs. I sit on the edge of the bed and pull my bag over and get out my clothes and put them out in the chest of drawers which doesn't take long since I've never been that into clothes and tend to just go for jeans and hoodies as I'm wearing now. Putting away the last T-shirt I head over to the door and go downstairs hearing voices emanating from the kitchen.


	3. Chapter 3

_A/N Hi guys, got another chapter and Charlotte now has a last name, please read and review I want to know if people are enjoying this_ _Again I still own nothing of Grey's, shame really._

Chapter 3

Charlotte's p.o.v.

As I approach the kitchen I know that one of the voices belong to Derek but I don't recognise the other, someone must have come home while I was upstairs. As I open the door Derek looks up from where he is making sandwiches and another woman with blonde hair looks up towards the door curiosity clear in her eyes, Derek puts down the knife that was in his hand and turns around "Ah Charlotte I was wondering if you'd gone to sleep up there, this is my girlfriend Meredith Grey". I take the hand she offers "Hi, I'm Charlotte Gates nice to meet you".

"Wow I'd forgotten you're British, Derek told me that his niece needed somewhere to stay while here but I thought you would be American" she gushed at me while excitedly shaking my hand. "Yeah, technically I'm more his cousin, my grandmother who is Derek' mum's sister moved to England years ago so I've never met any of my family in America, and thank you so much by the way for letting me stay here I wasn't expecting to find anywhere for a while".

"Oh no problem it's a mad house in here anyway so one more's not going to make a difference." Meredith says with a laugh, this knowing sort of look seems to be on her face, I don't actually know anything about who Derek lives with so I guess now is as good a time as any.

"So, who else lives here, Derek told me he lives here and that he's a doctor, but I don't really know anything about you or even who else lives here" I say looking curiously towards Derek who suddenly seems to have gone shy which can't be a good sign.

"Oh well there's Alex, Izzie, George who actually live here as well as us but there's always people from the hospital coming in and out so you'll probably get to meet most of them at some point or another, and it's not just Derek we're all surgeons at the hospital". With this information, I unconsciously take a step back, god they're all doctors, and not just that surgeons, they make a living cutting people open to save them. I can already tell living here is going to be interesting since I've always been uncomfortable with the idea of people being completely focussed on me especially doctors, so most of the time I avoid doctors at all costs which has led to me actually being a bit afraid of doctors. Well maybe spending time with so many of them at once will help me get used to them and as my mum likes to remind me 'they're just people'.

I must have paused for too long because Derek walks over with a sandwich on a plate which he puts on the table before pushing me towards the seat in front of it "Here, try that instead probably a better idea than the candy, then we'll go to Wal Mart in an hour or two once that's settled".

Meredith looks between us with a confused but concerned frown, Derek answers the look "She nearly ruined the front seat of the Porsche earlier after I gave her some candy because she hasn't eaten since yesterday". I flush a deep red and pick up the sandwich "I told you I don't fly well I just didn't expect it to happen in the car as well, I said I'm sorry", taking the first bite of the sandwich finding it delicious.

Meredith hits Derek on the back of the head "Hey leave her alone, she didn't get it in your precious car so it's fine, don't mind him. Though he is right you should finish that and then go sit for a bit in the front room" she says with a warm smile. I pick up the plate and walk through to the lounge and sit on the sofa to eat my sandwich feeling completely embarrassed now. I can hear Meredith talking angrily at Derek probably telling him off. When I'm finished I turn on the TV and manage to get it onto some movie with Tom Hanks in and figure I'll just lay down for a minute to watch a bit of it before Derek comes through to go out.

I must have gone to sleep again because when I open my eyes there are a lot more voices in the house though they're all whispering which is really weird, why would they be whispering in their own house. Suddenly I realise that there is a blanket over me, looking at the TV I see the credits for the movie rolling, so I must have been asleep for about 2 hours, turning it off I sit up pushing the blanket off and sit up, only to realise that 3 people I've never seen are standing directly behind the sofa whispering and glancing in my direction, the surprise of it causes me to jump backwards but since I'm still on the sofa and the blankets still on my legs I end up falling off the sofa onto the coffee table making a loud crash as the table skids backwards and I hit the floor with a thud. Now the room is silent until I hear them walking towards me and they lean over the sofa, one of the men and the woman looking concerned while the guy with short cut dirty blonde hair looks more like he's trying not to laugh at me. The door from the kitchen opens and Meredith and Derek lean in, noticing me on the floor Derek walks forward "Are you ok? What did those knuckleheads do now?" he says glancing up at the three people I don't know though it occurs to me they're probably Alex, Izzie and George.

"They didn't do anything I just didn't realise they were in the room so it made me jump" I say untangling my legs from the blanket and getting up, Derek pulls the coffee table back before straightening up. I decide it's time to take the initiative because it's getting awkward now "Well, I'm Charlotte Gates, I don't know if Derek said anything or not but I'm his niece and I'm staying here for a bit, and you guys are?" They seem to snap out of their respective trances and the woman speaks first "Hi, I'm Izzie and that's George and the one smirking over there is Alex". "Nice to meet you all, well I'm going to go get my bag and then Derek if you don't mind could we go to Wal Mart now" I say absentmindedly rubbing the back of my head with a slight wince when I feel a slight lump from where I hit the coffee table.

"Sure, we can go, are you sure you're alright though?... did you hit your head?" Derek says pinching in his eyebrows hands twitching as though he wants to reach towards me. "Yeah on the coffee table, it's fine though just a little lump why are you worried?".

Meredith cuts in "It's force of habit for all of us especially him being head of Neurosurgery". Oh right they're all surgeons they're used to jumping the worst possible conclusion well I better shut that down now "No seriously Derek it's fine just a little bump nothing to even look at it'll go down on it's fine" He seems for a second like he's going to argue but instead pulls his car keys out of his pocket and gestures towards the door. "Fine but one sign anything's wrong" he points at me with his car key with a grin, "And I'll tell you, don't worry I'm not stupid" I say winking at him and running to my room to get my bag. If only I knew that wouldn't be the last time I'd have them all trying to doctor me.


	4. Chapter 4

A/N Longest chapter yet this one, and I've started getting a bit mean to Charlotte but hey she's my creation 😊

Chapter 4

Charlotte's p.o.v.

A few days after I moved in I was lying in her bed with the new sheets I got on the first day with Derek, I haven't really seen much of the others since the initial falling off the sofa incident. I can't believe that was how I introduced myself I wanted to make a good impression now they will think I'm a klutz (though they wouldn't be wrong to be honest). I guess they have all been on shift at the hospital a lot because other than them crashing around at 4 in the morning and one night I was eating dinner when they all came in and I talked to them for a bit then I haven't seen any of them in at least 24 hours.

I haven't been out yet since I went with Derek and I guess it's time for me to start getting used to Seattle, since I feel like I've finally caught up on sleep and that lump on my head that I told Derek was nothing has gone down just like I said it would. I get dressed into my dark blue jeans and a loose grey hoodie, and pull on my converse before heading downstairs with my rucksack. As I'm leaving I notice a cupboard that has the door slightly ajar, opening the door a grin spreads across my face. There's a mountain bike in there up on its back wheel against the wall, I always loved riding bikes when I was younger through fields and tearing around the area around my house way faster than I really should. I look around feeling sure someone had to jump out and tell me I'm not allowed to, but I know no-one's home and since there is a layer of dust on the bike I'm guessing whoever it belongs to can't be so attached that they wouldn't mind me borrowing it. I pull the other strap of my rucksack on and pull the bike out carefully, there's even a helmet on a shelf behind the bike which I pull out as well. Carefully I wheel it outside and down the steps onto the pavement, I brush the worst of the dust off the bike and after checking the brakes work and that the chain is in good condition I put on the helmet and cycle off in the direction that I saw a mall when I was out with Derek.

I get to the mall with no problem enjoying being back on a bike again and lock it to a fence before walking inside and spending a couple of hours picking up the essentials of what I need, somehow managing to fit it all into my rucksack and the 2 canvas bags I had brought with me. After stopping at the food court and getting a sandwich and a Frappuccino for lunch I wonder over to the fence and unlock the bike. I put a bag over each handlebar and secure my rucksack again for the ride home, as I set off I realise that this may have been a bad decision because the bags keep swaying and hitting the front wheel, nothing I can do now though so I keep going pedalling slowly to keep the swinging to a minimum. I'm just pulling into the road that the house is on when it all goes wrong.

I was crossing the road and a car came out of nowhere causing me to have to swerve suddenly trying to avoid it but somehow one of the bags must have got stuck in the wheel because the front wheel jolted to a stop suddenly throwing me over the handlebars and I roll over the bonnet of the car and the windscreen, onto the floor on the other side hearing the screeching of tires as the car skids to a stop. 'Owww damn that hurt' is all that I'm thinking as I stay laying on the road for a minute to get my breath back. I hear a car door open and close quickly so I can only presume whoever was driving has probably gotten out, I wish they had just driven on because it wouldn't be that bad if I could just slink back to my room, I can see the house from where I am. I'm pulled away from my thoughts by a guy rushing over to me and he is suddenly kneeling next to me and half shouting "Hi, can you hear me? I didn't see you coming… I'm a doctor I can help if you tell me what's wrong."

"Is everyone on this street a doctor or something?" I say not even realising I'd said it, and now he's frowning at me he probably thinks I have a head injury. I sit up and put my hand on the car next to me to pull myself up, my side screaming at me all the way up from where I'd hit the car and then the road, my face must be giving me away because he's put his hands under my arms to help me up even though I get the feeling he wanted me to stay on the floor. He pushes me back to sit on the car and starts trying to take my helmet off but I bat his hands away and do it myself, once my helmets off I start to feel that the side of my head is hurting as well.

"What did you mean by that then? That everyone is a doctor that is?" glancing down to look me in the eyes before he begins feeling around the back of my neck and head despite me trying to shrug him off.

"Oh I only moved out here recently from England, I'm going to study at Seattle University and my Uncle Derek is letting me stay with him but everyone in that house is a doctor and it's kinda eery because it's like the house is empty 80% of the time and when they do come back they're all sleeping" I pause in my moaning ramble as I notice that this guy is smiling in a way that suggests he knows something that is going to make me regret what I've just said.

"Well as it happens Derek is my best friend since we were kids and I was just on my way over to the hospital after getting something for him from the house so you can hitch a ride with me and get checked over after that fall you just took" he gives me an even bigger grin if that's possible.

"No, I'm fine I don't need to go to the hospital" I get up and move round to get the bike, him following me all the way as I untangle the bag from the wheel and walk up the road he's still following. "Look kid you've taken a good hit to the head and I'm pretty sure Derek would kill me if I let you walk off into an empty house like this cause I know none of them will be back soon, why don't we just put the bike and your bags in the house and I'll drive you over to get checked out and if you're so fine then I'll bring you straight back" at this he reaches out to shake on it. I huff knowing he's just going to follow me in anyway.

"Fine I'll just put this inside I don't even know who it belongs to, found it in a cupboard and figured no one would mind me borrowing it" I ignore his outstretched hand and I try to lift the bike up the steps but a stabbing pain rips through my side and I end up dropping it my vision greying out and I think I'm about to pass out. By some miracle I don't but I come back to myself hunched forwards breathing heavily with the bike on the floor at my feet. The guy is crouched in front of my face, his lips are moving but it takes me a few seconds to hear what he is saying "Hey, breathe… you're alright take your time and breathe through it, I'm going to put the bike inside, I'll be right back" He takes the bike in one hand and my bags in the other hand jumping up the stairs and I watch as he opens the door and puts the bike on the floor the bags joining them there before he locks the door and jogs down the steps back to me. Taking me by the elbow he pulls me out into the road and I realise that his car has been sat in the road the entire time, why this amuses me now I don't know but maybe it's the hit to the head.

He puts me in the passenger seat and does up the seatbelt over me even though I'm pretty I could have done that. He keeps up a constant stream of chatter in the car as he drives which is more annoying than anything else "I'm Mark Sloan by the way, head of plastic surgery at SGMW, did you know I once grew a skin flap for a baby while it was still inside it's mother…" I end up just looking out the window getting my first real look at Seattle since I got here, while watching the cars whiz by I realise that I'm still holding the helmet I was wearing, looking down at it I turn it to the side and look at the right side, it's dented and scratched all along that side, my head gives another throb at the sight of it. All to soon Mark has pulled up to the hospital and is coming around to open the door, I decide to spite him and push the door open before he can get to me and start walking towards the hospital figuring that if he's going to make go in then I'm doing it on my terms. He jogs up behind me after locking the car "Hey wait up, the ER's this way you really should go there to get checked up, I ignore him and continue through the main entrance.

"I'm not going to sit in there for ages only to get told I'm fine, besides I haven't organized my medical insurance yet so I can't afford it. You said Derek would kill you so we can go see him I'll tell him I'm fine and not to kill you then we go" I say pleadingly and he seems to consider this for a second.

"Fine we'll try and find him and then you let me or someone at least look at your ribs and we'll do it for free so you don't need to worry about that" he says before walking over to a nurse and asking her to page 'Dr. Shepherd' to conference room 1 and walks towards a lift motioning me to follow. I do while grinning because I got my own way and avoided having the horror of the ER, we quickly reach the conference room and I put the helmet on the table before dumping myself into a chair to wait. It's only now that I've relaxed that I start to fully feel my injuries, the right side of my ribcage is aching with every breath and the side of my head is throbbing, I feel a slight sting on my neck and reach up to touch the area, there is a cut along the bottom of my jawline probably about 3cm long and grazes around that area, it must be from where I hit the pavement, probably a stone or something. At this moment, the door opens.

"You can't just page me because you're bored Mark or you want to chat I'm busy…. Charlotte what are you doing here? What happened?" he notices me at the table mid-way through ranting at Mark and just stares confused, seeing him in his white coat makes it a little to real and I realise I can't do this and get up to go "You know really I'm fine, thanks for the ride Mark but I'll just be going" Mark puts an arm out to stop me but unwittingly catches the exact rib that has been bothering me and I gave a cry of pain before bending forwards again back to the barely breathing again, luckily I'd only made it a few steps so Mark guided me back to sit in the chair again.

"She was riding a bike and I didn't see that her so when she tried to cross the road I couldn't break in time so she rolled over the hood of my car onto the floor, she didn't want to go to the ER because apparently she doesn't have medical insurance and she is still trying to insist she's fine" Mark says while pretending to shield himself from Derek which does get a chuckle from me but then again maybe that was his intention.

While this was going on Derek has picked up the helmet off the table and looks at the side which is dented and scratched "I'm guessing you found my bike in the cupboard since this is my helmet, but anyway tell me does this look like the helmet off someone who is fine, I guess at least you were wearing one" he says with a scowl, suddenly he pulls out his pager and types out a message before clipping it back onto his belt. "Right Charlotte no matter how fine you may think you Mark's right you need to be checked over". He's pulled up a chair and sits across from me and pulls out a penlight, he reaches up and pulls my eyelids up flashing the light into each eye in turn causing the pain in my head to spike and I try to pull away but there's nowhere to go since I'm pretty much trapped in the chair with him leaning forwards over me.

"Pupils equal, round and reactive" he mutters, before putting the penlight away and starts gently palpating my head with his fingers quickly finding the sore spot causing me to flinch away, which is when he sees the cut which I can now feel has dripped blood onto my hoodie, 'damn that'll be hard to get out'. I feel more than I hear Mark lean over, and suddenly his hands join Derek's feeling around the wound "Yup that's going to need sutures, I can do them once you've gotten checked you don't want a scar on that pretty face of yours" he says smiling down at me again this time with the same ladies' man grin I keep seeing on Derek's face.

The awkwardness is broken when the door opens yet again and a man with ginger hair and a determined look on his face walks in. Derek stands up again "Owen, sorry to bother you I know the ER can get hectic." Owen just brushes it off and seems itching for Derek to get to the point, he's looking at me and I can tell just from his eyes that he's already assessing me, seeing the blood and I feel my face betraying me again with a look of pain and just like that he knows who he's here for. "This is Charlotte my niece, Mark decided it would be an excellent idea to knock her off my bike with his car and she doesn't want to go to the ER so could you quickly check her out."

"Of course" Owen says stepping into the room and putting down his folders on the table and steps closer. "So, I can already guess from your helmet that you've hit your head and I can see the cut on your neck already but I'm guessing these two will want to deal with those personally, so why don't you let me check your ribs and then you can go hmm" he says a knowing look glinting in his eye.

I decide to have one last act of defiance "How do you even know my ribs hurt, you only just walked in?".

"Well 1 you are hunched over and guarding them whether you realise it or not, 2 I can see that you're taking quick shallow breaths because of the pain deep breaths are causing you and 3 you just admitted to it so you're not getting away with hiding it anyway if that was your plan" he's smirking by this point and the other two have covered their mouths in a failed attempt to hide their laughter.

"Fine, sorry for talking to you like that I know you don't deserve it" I say and reach down for the edge of my hoodie and start to pull it up on the right side only getting to the bottom of my ribs before I have to stop because of the pain the movement is causing. Owen kneels to lift it the rest of the way, the bottom 3 of my ribs are already a mottled pattern of blue and red and apparently it must look bad based on the look on Owens face and the way the other 2 lean in for a closer look. "Are you having difficulty breathing at all?" he says pulling his stethoscope from round his neck and puts the earpieces in and holds the other end against my chest, "take as deep a breath as you can". I try to pull in air but can only really use my stomach going in and out to get air in and when my ribs expand to pull air in a sharp stabbing forces me to exhale again, I repeat the painful procedure for Owen to check whatever he wants and he puts the stethoscope back on his neck now reaching out to run his hands along my chest right on the bruising "Well your chest is clear and I don't think you're ribs are broken but you need an x-ray to confirm that because you aren't getting as much air in as you should be" he says with a frown. Looking up to Derek and Mark they both have a frown to match "Could you book that Owen please and we'll take her from here, thanks" Derek says with a grim smile.

After Owen leaves Derek and Mark step outside as well, and I can see Derek waving his arms around shouting at Mark, presumably for hitting me, so I get up and walk over to the door opening it "You know it wasn't Mark's fault I should have checked more carefully before I crossed the road, if it's any consolation your bike is fine and I'll replace your helmet" I say scuffing the floor with my feet, trying my hardest to look apologetic because I really didn't mean for this to happen.

"No don't worry I don't blame Mark or you it was just an accident, and don't worry about the helmet I haven't ridden that bike in years so I don't need one anymore just thank god it was still there and that you wore it otherwise this would be a very different situation now" he says meaningfully locking me with a hard stare. "Anyway, I need to get back to my patients, so I'll leave you with Mark and he can do your sutures" he says turning and striding away.

Mark leads me to a small side room and makes short work of the sutures chattering to himself about how good a plastic surgeon he is and how I won't have even the slightest scar when he's done. It's strangely comforting in a way because he just keeps talking and doesn't seem to even mind that I'm not paying any attention to him. He takes me over to get the x-rays done and after going off to get Owen to have a look at them he comes back and tells me that he's going to take me home, when we get back he comes in and puts the bike off to one side and says that he's going to go but that the 'interns' as he called them should be back soon and he even wrote down his phone number for me in case I needed anything. After he left I lay down on the sofa not even bothering to go upstairs and just pulled the blanket off the back of the couch over me and went to sleep.


	5. Chapter 5

A/N Sorry for such a long delay on this chapter, but here it is, sorry Patsy this one doesn't have the interns in either unfortunately but the next one should have them in. As usual I own nothing. 😊

Chapter 5

Charlotte's p.o.v.

A couple of weeks after the bike crash incident and things seemed to be going better for me, I've slowly gotten to know most of the doctors as they popped in and out of the house and I've explored a lot of Seattle as well though the space needle was semi-terrifying. Derek has even asked me to come over to the hospital and he's going to give me a proper tour since I will possibly be doing some of my research in the lab considering my Ph.D. course is linked with the hospital.

So this is how it came about that I ended up jogging to the hospital one afternoon to meet Derek, as I was setting off it occurred to me that maybe I should have brought some water with me because it's almost 30 degrees outside and I'm from England after all so this is verging on unbearable heat but I'm sure that I've been here long enough to get used to it and I always jogs at home so I should be fine.

About halfway to the hospital I stop to catch my breath before continuing on grateful that I took the time to at least put sun cream on before I went out because it's starting to feel very hot out here and the sun is really beating down now. I round the corner into the car park and can feel the sweat running in rivulets down my back and even running off the edge of my eyebrows where it's pouring off my forehead as well, my hair long since stuck to my face. As I walk in I wave a quick hello to Alex who is down in the 'Pit' as I've learned it's called, he glances up at me and waves back before going back to dealing with the kid screaming in front of him.

I headed up to the showers remembering where they are after seeing them last time I was at the hospital, and pulled out the change of clothes I brought knowing I was going to be sweaty before going in to shower off. The shower only had one temperature available which is annoying because I'd wanted to have a cold shower to cool off after my run but instead the shower leaves me feeling hotter than before if anything, not to mention still slightly winded from the run, feeling the lingering ache of the bruised ribs that though pretty much healed still gave the occasional twinge.

I've done all I really to compose myself so I begin the walk across the hospital towards Derek's office. As I'm walking I begin to feel anxious because I still feel far too hot and maybe I should just go get a drink instead and then go find Derek, but then again, he'll probably have a drink in his office so I continue.

Rounding the last corner, I see Mark, Owen and Derek stood in the office talking, it looks as though they might be talking about a patient and I don't want to intrude so I lean against the wall a few feet up from the door and wait there, fiddling with the bottom of my t-shirt. A couple of minutes pass and I'm sure something is wrong because I don't seem to be cooling down as fast as I thought I would and I feel even worse than I did before, I spot a water fountain along the corridor and start to walk over to it but pushing off the wall makes my head feel strangely floaty and I'm pretty sure I'm staggering now. About halfway along the corridor and I know this isn't going to work so I change course and manage to make it to a chair that is along the edge of the hallway and fall into it, making it scrape along the floor and hit the wall of Derek's office with a loud 'thunk!'

General/no-one's p.o.v.

Mid-way though discussing a patient Owen holds up a hand to stop the other two and looks at the exact spot where Charlotte's chair has just hit the wall "Did you two hear that?" he says stepping towards the door.

"Don't try and change the subject Hunt" Derek said but Owen has already opened the door and stepped into the hallway.

Charlotte sits in the chair, with her head forward resting on her hands and elbows planted into her knees to keep her from falling forward onto the floor which feels like it is a very real possibility with her current state. She hears the door of Derek's office open and sits up straight putting in a valiant effort to look normal as she watches Owen emerge from the office and look in her direction. "Did you just hear a crash out here?" Owen says

"No" she says trying to keep her breaths deep and even but also not give away to Owen that anything is wrong. However, she knows it won't last long when Derek and Mark also walk out and look at her, she's outnumbered 3 to 1 by highly trained doctors and knows she's not getting away with her usual 'I'm fine'.

Owen's watching me closely again and I see the look again… the look that means he's searching for clues as to what's wrong. "Oh, ok I thought I heard a crash out here… are you feeling ok? You look like you're boiling".

"Oh yeah I'm good… umm I jogged here to meet Derek because he was going to give me a tour and… umm it's really hot outside and I guess I maybe wasn't quite ready for it" she finishes having to stop to lick her lips because they're feeling very dry all of a sudden. She's slowly starting to feel the floaty sensation return to her head and has to repeat her deep breathing again to calm down.

All 3 of them are looking at her sceptically now, "Well why don't you come sit in here and Mark will get you a drink from the water fountain" Derek says indicating the fountain with his eyes to Mark and gesturing towards his office for her. She knows she's likely going to regret it but seeing no other option she slowly moved her hands to the arms of the chair and pushes upwards and makes it to her feet. At first she feels fine and smiles at Owen and Derek who are hovering very close as though they're expecting her to fall. She makes it a few steps but her vision very suddenly cuts out and she tries to hurry up going where she thinks the doorway is but her head is rolling forward. It's probably the weirdest sensation she's ever experienced as though someone is pouring ice water through her body from her head down but the water paralyses her as it goes. The strangest part though is that even when she's lost control of her torso she's still able to move her legs as though they're responding to the last command that her brain had given them which was to walk. So, though she does manage to make it to the door of Derek's office she is bent forwards at the waist by this point and though she feels someone grab at the back of her shirt her legs have already given out and Owen and Derek can only watch as she falls to the floor her head hitting against the floor and the rest of her body crumpling down after her.

"Damn it" Derek says as they both carefully step over her into the office kneeling down next to her. Mark appears at the door with two plastic cups of water but quickly sets them down on the desk in favour of helping them too roll her over so she's no longer face down on the carpet, allowing Owen to reach for the pulse point on her neck "Pulse 130 and weak". Derek leans over tapping her face "CHARLOTTE, can you hear me? I need you to open your eyes".

Charlotte could feel everything they were doing and was panicking in her head because she could still feel fingers pushing lightly into her neck and someone was tapping her face but she still couldn't hear or see them. Slowly after a few seconds laying on the floor and still she felt her heart begin to settle a bit and her hearing crept back in allowing her to finally hear them calling her, she managed to finally peel her eyelids back to see Owen kneeling on her right side with his hand still against her neck, on her other side is Derek who is smiling encouragingly at me "Hey are you back now, we lost you for a second there, I'm just going to lift your legs up for a bit to get your blood pressure stabilised ok" he says as he slides his arm under her knees pulling them up so that her legs are folded up. She pulls one of her arms up behind her head to cushion it a bit as it's starting to ache a bit on her forehead, and puts the other hand over her eyes to block out the overhead lights which are making the headache worse.

Derek sits back away from Charlotte to think she's obviously dehydrated and it's too late for her to rehydrate orally now because she'll likely just bring it back. He leans over to whisper in Mark's ear "Can you go get an IV kit and we'll move her onto the couch she needs to be hydrated but I don't think she will let us admit her". Mark nods before getting up and going out heading for a supply closet. Turning his attention back to Charlotte he sees the hand over her eyes and remembers the sound her head had made against the floor earlier.

"Ok, Charlotte me and Owen are going to lift you up onto the couch so you're a bit more comfortable and then I need to check your head just because you hit it pretty hard on the way down" he says. Owen takes the hint and takes hold of her legs and Derek picks her up under her armpits and they make short work of settling her on the couch. Just as she is relaxing back against the sofa Mark comes back holding his hands behind his back which Charlotte instantly finds very suspicious but she dismisses it because Derek is coming in very close and like with the crash he pulls back her eyelids and flashes the penlight in her eyes watching her very closely and asks a few questions seeing if she knows who they are and where she is. "Head seems fine, now for the bit I know you're going to hate but you have no choice in this matter, Mark?".

Mark steps out from where he had been hidden from Charlotte's view and takes Derek's place beside her revealing what he had been hiding it, she instantly recognises the IV kit and seriously considers running, but they are just trying to help her and she's not going to get very far anyway so she extends her arm to Mark. He takes hold of it with a surprised look that he quickly masks, before flipping her hand over and tying a tourniquet around her wrist, he wipes off the area and easily inserts the needle into a vein on the back of her hand on the first try and attaches the line which Owen has connected to the bag that he somehow already had hanging from a pole that Charlotte hadn't noticed as well, maybe she needs this IV more than she thought.

Once she's settled Owen and Mark step towards the door "Well no sense in us staying here crowding your office Derek, so we'll go now, hope you feel better Charlotte" Owen says as he pushes Mark out the door, which she is grateful because she was still feeling a bit outnumbered.

Once the others have left Derek closes the door behind them and goes to sit behind his desk and opens his laptop leaving Charlotte to calm down after her ordeal. "Now I'm going to do some work, you let that bag finish and I want you to drink some water as well, then we'll see about that tour of the hospital, how's that sound?"

"Perfect, thanks and Derek next time I visit here I'm taking the bus" she says a smile on her face relaxing back onto the sofa".


	6. Chapter 6

A/N Right I'm back on this story again, and to josophie thank you so much for your review I love to know that people are enjoying what I'm writing, I was thinking of having Charlotte meet some other people soon, I will try and get a bit more regular at updating as well. 😊

Chapter 6

Charlotte's .

It's on a Tuesday morning about 3 weeks after I moved in that I wake up to a sore throat, I barely even take note of it because I've always been prone to tonsillitis since I was little so I presumed it was just another round with that. My tonsils are so scarred by now that they look like a warzone, but that's just how mine have always been and I've learned to ignore it. So, I just continue on normally, going downstairs for breakfast I find to my surprise that everyone is at home and in the kitchen, I slip in going straight for the fridge to get some milk and then grab some cereal and a bowl taking a seat at the counter to eat my breakfast.

"Morning Charlotte, got any plans for today?" Derek said sitting down next to me with his muesli, still looking pretty groggy but giving me a tired smile.

"…" I tried to speak but suddenly realized I hadn't actually tried to speak yet today and all that came out was an awkward choking noise, I cleared my throat and tried again "I was just going to go up to Publix to get some stuff, then probably watch some movies." I croaked out but it sounds scratchy and hoarse.

"Wow you sound rough, maybe it's a good idea for you to stay home today" Izzie says passing by and stealing the box of cereal away as I finish pouring some into a bowl.

"Nah it's alright I get throat infections all the time I pretty much just ignore them now" I says shrugging and scooping some cereal into my mouth. Both Izzie and Derek don't look that bothered and just continue with breakfast and soon enough they've all left for the hospital saying they'll be on shift now for the next 48 hours, and Derek tells me to phone him if I need anything. I just smile and insist that I'm fine shooing them away.

About an hour later I'm on my way to Publix, I have to get the bus and when I ask the driver for a ticket my voice is sounding even worse and he shrinks away in disgusts passing my ticket to me and waving me back onto the bus. When I get to Publix I pick up some more bread and milk and other essentials then go and grab a pack of 6 boxes of mac and cheese and some advil wanting to be prepared in case my throat gets worse which I have a horrible feeling is going to happen.

When I get back I get comfortable on the couch with a blanket and put in a movie to watch, next thing I know it's already about 4 in the afternoon, I must have gone to sleep. I figure it's time to get up and make some dinner so I do one of the boxes of mac and cheese which I quickly wolf down loving every bit. I watch another movie actually staying awake to watch it this time, but by the end of it I find myself sitting on the sofa shivering quite violently, its been a bit colder the last few days so I guess maybe it's just cold in here. I'm already feeling tired so I decide to just go to bed now even though it's only about 7:30 I can always read up in bed if I can't sleep.

I got to sleep fine once I'd pulled all of the covers tightly around myself and cocooned myself in the warmth of them all. The next morning I'm woken at about 4am and can't work out what's woken me at first but then I realise that my bed is soaked and I feel absolutely boiling it's like everything around me has a heat haze and I throw off the covers but the air outside of the covers is cold and when I take a breath I choke on it and launch into a coughing fit that leaves me worn out and shaky. This is the sickest that I have felt in years and I was not prepared for it. I reach for the Advil that I left on my bedside table and shake out two pills, dry swallowing them and flopping back onto the bed. I pull the covers back up as I feel myself starting to shiver and my teeth rattle together with the force of the shaking. The worst part is my throat though, yesterday it felt sore, today it feels like it's been sliced and diced with a razor blade, and when another bout of coughing comes about my eyes water from the pain in my throat.

Realizing that there's not much hope of getting to sleep again I get out of bed wrapping the quilt around me and head downstairs to get a drink and some food. Over the years I've learned what to avoid when my throat gets bad and so I have some mac and cheese again knowing it'll be soft and let it cool so that it's only warm and won't burn my throat and opt for some blackcurrant squash made with hot water. Sitting on the couch again I slowly eat my food wincing every time I swallow, but it does at least stop stinging constantly as the medication takes the edge off. I spend most of the day on the sofa feeling like I'm going to hack up a lung with all the coughing I'm doing and my chest is starting to get sore from it, tag-teaming with my throat and head for which hurts the most at any given time.

I don't want to bother any of the others so I make myself dinner and go up to get into my bed knowing that they are most likely going to be home tonight. I hear them come in about 7pm and soon after get a text from Derek asking where I am, I text him back saying that I'm up in bed but not to come up because I'm just watching a movie on my laptop. By this point in the day I'm only going a few minutes between coughing fits and I have gone through the maximum amount of Advil that I can take safely, I managed to find some cough sweets in the cupboards in the kitchen and pull them out when I hear them all come in, I'd got them because I'm hoping that they'll help to calm my coughing when I want to go to bed. It seems it's going to double up to help me be quiet because I don't want to bother the others with this.

I got sick like this my first year at university and it wasn't very fun then, the cough lasted almost 3 weeks but since I didn't really know that many people there anyway I didn't tell anyone and it went away, just like this will to. There's no point in bothering any of the others with this because I know that it's not serious and so way below their pay-grade. So I spend that night trying desperately not to cough too much and disturb anyone, I end up having to keep a glass of water by my bed so that I can take sips of water to stop my coughing fits. About 3am I jolt awake for another coughing fit that is so violent it feels as though my chest is going to explode and I can't seem to pause long enough to get a breath in, it's at this point I realise that I maybe could do with help from one of them. But as the coughing finally abates I can't be bothered to walk downstairs so I lie down and go back to sleep.

It must be about noon the next time I come back to the land of the conscious people, and I wish I hadn't, my chest muscles are aching with every breath and I can feel crackling in my chest when I cough, on the bright-side my throat doesn't seem to be as sore as it has been the past few days, just a bit raw. Sitting up I stretch my hearing as much as I can and hear talking coming from downstairs and guess that some of them must still be at home, maybe they have the day off, well I'll just go down and get some food and come back, no use bothering them because they're always tired when they get any time off, or at least that's why I'm going to convince myself not to say anything.

I get up and pull on some jogging bottoms over my pyjama shorts and a faux fur-lined hoodie over my t-shirt and some big socks, because it's freezing outside of the safety of my bed, trudging over to the door I pull it open and carefully begin to make my way downstairs, as I reach the corridor with the other bedrooms on, I realise that I'm starting to feel shaky, my lungs don't seem to be working as well as I need to and I'm breathing quicker than I normally do. When I reach the stairs I have to pause and sit down about half way down and put my head on my knees concentrating on just breathing, this proves to be a problem when I take a particularly deep breath and something in my throat catches and I start coughing again, I put one hand on the step I'm sat on to keep my balance and one over my mouth as I cough, it seems to last an eternity before I'm finally able to draw in a breath between the racking coughs. After a quick few gulps of air I lift my head back up and surprisingly see Alex and Meredith stood at the bottom of the stairs, Meredith looking concerned and Alex frowning.

"What?" I say getting up and slowly continuing on my way to the kitchen, brushing past them.

"Are you ok? That didn't exactly sound healthy." Meredith said looking like she's already in doctor mode. Great this is what I was hoping to avoid.

"Yeah, I'm good, just a cough, I only came down to get some food" I said sitting down on one of the stools at the breakfast bar to rest again, I definitely shouldn't be this tired, probably just because I didn't sleep much.

"Well Izzie made a load of muffins earlier so you're in luck" Meredith said putting a plate of muffins on the table in front of me, and I pick on up unwrapping the paper and taking a small bite. It must be even colder in here because I'm shivering now, I pull my hoodie tighter around me and briefly consider putting the hood up but Alex and Meredith are already looking at me funny.

"So why are you two still here shouldn't you be at the hospital with the others?" I ask.

"We do occasionally get days off and today just so happens to be one of them" Alex says re-appearing from behind me and snagging a muffin of the plate, not that I'm that bothered, I'm not really hungry anymore.

"You know you're shaking and you look a bit pale, are you sure you're ok?" Meredith pushes again, I try to huff to show my annoyance but all that happens is my breath catches again and I'm left hacking away, my knuckles have gone white as I grip the counter and trying to pull any air in in between coughs but it's not enough and I feel myself starting to slip off the stool I'm sitting on. Suddenly I feel someone next to me their body pressing against my side and an arm wrapped around my shoulders supporting me before I fall off the stool, whoever it is - probably Alex cause Meredith is tiny and this person is definitely bigger than me – has taken hold of my hand and is holding it against their chest, I can feel their slow deliberate breaths and eventually I manage to suck in some air and after a final cough to clear whatever it was that was blocking my chest I lean into Alex – I'm sure now that it must be him - and breathe deeply in time with him.

After a minute, I pull my hand out of his and sit up straight. "Thanks". Looking around I see that Meredith has just walked back in with a bag over her shoulder, she puts it down on the table and reaches in pulling something out – a stethoscope. She walks towards me and puts the ends in her ears, I start to open my mouth to protest but she just glares at me, and my jaws shut with a soft click. I allow her to pull the back of my hoodie and my t-shirt up and she puts the stethoscope against my back, I flinch at how cold it is but Alex is still beside me so I know I'm not going anywhere. Obediently I breathe when Meredith tells me and wait patiently while she rummages through the bag, she pulls out a thermometer which she goes to stick in my ear but I snatch it from her.

"I can do it myself, you know" I say even though I know she's only trying to help me. I put the thermometer in my ear and press the button waiting for the beep. I bring the thermometer round so I can read it and know that they aren't going to like it, but Meredith has already taken it back so too late now.

"103.6 that's not good, have you taken anything to bring this down?" Meredith says getting straight to the point.

"I've been taking Advil, last time was last night now" I say.

"'Been taking' how long have you been sick?" Meredith says.

"Only since the other morning when my voice had gone funny, it's just gotten worse since then" I say looking anywhere but at either of them.

"Right, Alex you get her over to the couch and I'm going to get some things, you know you should have told someone that you were this sick we could have helped before you got to this point." Meredith said giving me a pointed look before disappearing out into the hallway. I get up to start going through to the lounge but my vision suddenly greys out for a second and I sway, Alex has hold of me before I topple though and he swiftly guides me through and sits me down on the couch. My vision slowly clears again and I pull my feet up onto the couch and lay back. I'm half asleep when Meredith returns with the pillow from my bed which she tucks under my head and she spreads a thin blanket over me, finally she pulls two bottles out of her pocket, tipping out 2 from each she hands me them with a cup of water that I hadn't even noticed.

"What are these?" I ask looking at the pills curiously.

"Ibuprofen and Paracetamol, your temperature is too high so you need to take both and hopefully that should bring it down otherwise you're going to end up at the hospital" she says looking very serious. I have to swallow them 2 at a time taking little sips each and after seeing the glares from both of them when I try to put the cup down I swig the rest of the water and lay back on the pillow closing my eyes. The last thing I hear before slipping off to sleep is them going through to the kitchen quietly talking to each other.

When I wake up the room is freezing, I know that it's summer but jeez they must have the air con to high or something because it's freezing, I sit up slightly and pull my hood up tucking every bit of me that I can under the blanket. My entire body is shaking now and I can't seem to stop my jaws clacking together, something is wrong because it can't be this cold. Someone has just come into the room but I haven't opened my eyes yet so I don't know who it is, a warm hand presses against my forehead and suddenly I hear Alex's voice shouting for Meredith, so it must be his hand. Peeling my eyelids back slowly I see them both standing next to the sofa talking quickly but my head is too foggy to really be able to make out what's being said. Alex suddenly is crouching next to me and pulls me upright wrapping his arm around my shoulders again and is holding out the same lot of pills again, I take them and put them in my mouth but can't hold the proffered cup steady so he holds it while I sip it to get the pills down, I oblige them again and drink the rest of the water. But they still don't look satisfied.

Meredith pulls the bag from before back out and hands Alex the thermometer while she pulls out what I'm guessing is a blood pressure cuff but my brain is still hazy, I don't fight Alex taking my temperature because I simply don't have the energy and whatever the result is can't be good but probably isn't any worse since they haven't tried to move me anywhere. Meredith pulls the blanket off and starts to unzip my hoodie, I feel as though I should be fighting this because I'm really fine but instead I watch their movements and pull my arm out of the sleeve when Alex holds onto the sleeve. Meredith wraps the fabric around my bicep and puts the stethoscope under it on my arm, the cuff squeezes my arm tight enough that it's starting to hurt before it suddenly releases again, I notice that Alex has hold of my other wrist and is pressing on the pulse point there while looking at his wrist. They both exchange quick words that I don't really understand before turning back to me with grim looks.

"Your fever is not going down and normally you'd need to go to hospital, but I'm giving you an option, I can call Derek and ask him to bring over some antibiotics and other things and we can treat you here or you can go to the hospital and we'll get you admitted for treatment?" Meredith says putting the stethoscope around her neck looking every bit the doctor that she is.

"I don't want to go to the hospital, I'm not that sick, you can call Derek if you really think it's necessary" I said knowing that I can't keep fighting this on my own anymore.

"Ok then" with that she pulls her phone out of her pocket and walks out of the room to call Derek presumably. I lay back not bothering to put my arm back into my hoodie, instead I just wrap the fabric around me and pull the blanket back over, coughing a couple of times before rolling onto my side to face the back of the sofa. After an hour or so of me dozing, with Alex waking me every so often to try and get me to drink more water, I hear the front door open and more than one set of footsteps enter the house.

"Where is she?" I hear Derek saying.

"On the sofa, her fevers nearly 104 now and Alex can't get her to drink much, though that might just be his bedside manner" Meredith says and I snort at the comment about Alex. Unfortunately, the snort re-ignites my coughing that I thought was finally dying down, I try to keep quiet but soon have to sit up and Alex is sat behind me on the sofa rubbing my back, after a minute or two I manage to stop coughing. After a few rough gasps, I look over towards the front door to see Derek and Mark stood there, looking at me concerned.

"Hey guys, sorry I didn't tidy up a bit for your arrival" I weakly joke, but it loses its effect since I'm leaning heavily on Alex now and I can suddenly feel the sweat all over my body, and I'm still occasionally shivering as well. They don't seem to mind though because they both walk around the sofa to the other side and Derek sits on the coffee table while Mark stands at the end of the sofa looking down at me.

"Hey kid, don't worry the big boys are here now, can't be leaving you with these amateurs can we" Mark jokes pointing towards Alex and Meredith, I smile when Meredith sticks her tongue out at him in response.

"Nah they did good actually, it's my fault really, I should have said something yesterday when I started getting worse, but I didn't think it was bad enough to bother any of you" I said.

"Anything that's bothering you is bad enough to bother us Charlotte" Derek said looking me in the eyes. "Now I want to listen to your chest because that cough sounds nasty, OK?".

I sit forwards and Alex gets up walking over to sit in one of the armchairs, Derek slides in to where Alex used to be and puts the stethoscope into his ears before putting the end under my shirt. For the second time in one day I breathe when told too, though Derek seems to be much more thorough than Meredith since it takes almost a full minute before he puts the stethoscope round his neck.

"Well you've definitely got a chest infection I can hear rales in your lungs, open your mouth" Derek pulls out a penlight and looks in my mouth "And you've got some tonsillitis as well, you are going to need antibiotics, now since your fever doesn't seem to be coming down and not even Alex can get you to drink I'm going to put you on an IV that way you can sleep and we can control your fluids and medication without having to wake you up constantly" he says leaving no room for argument.

"Alright have it your way then I suppose" I say and pull out my arm that I've now got back into my sleeve and offer him my hand. Mark suddenly appears again and I notice that he must have had a bag with him because he's got a needle catheter and an IV bag in his hands and I see a bag laid out on the floor behind him with more IV bags in there as well as bottles with medication that I can't identify from here. Derek ties a tourniquet around my wrist and slides the needles into my vein hooking up the IV bag to a small pole that was also in Mark's bag, Mark kneels down by the bag and starts to look through the bottles.

"Are you allergic to anything?" Mark asks looking up, a small glass bottle in his hand which he passes to Derek.

"Penicillin, I had anaphylaxis last time I had it when I got tonsillitis when I was 17." I say. I notice Derek reading the label of the bottle in his hand and his eyes widen as he quickly passes it back to Mark.

"Right well that makes things complicated I've only got one dose of Erythromycin here and everything else is part of the Penicillin family so I'll head over to the hospital to get some more antibiotics you can take, have you taken Erythromycin before?" Mark says.

"No, I usually would just let things run their course, the time I had anaphylaxis was only the second time I'd ever had to take antibiotics and the first time was penicillin as well" I said crinkling my eyebrows.

"Right well we can give you the first dose of this and if you don't react to it I'll go and get you a full course of it" Mark says.

I lay back against the pillows watching as Mark slowly injects the antibiotics into my IV port and they start packing up the stuff of the floor. I don't see much point in staying awake anymore and so allow my eyelids to shut again and I drift back to sleep, vaguely aware of someone running their fingers through my hair.

I wake up several times over the next day or so, each time it seems to be the same thing, it still feels freezing even though I can feel the sweat pouring off me and I wake up hacking away, at one point I think someone was holding a bucket for me when the coughing became so violent that I threw up my meagre stomach contents. Multiple people come in and out and I'm never really completely aware of who it is but they all sound familiar, at least 3 times I'm pulled upright again and people are listening to my chest and the blood pressure cuff comes out as well usually, but I can't muster up the energy to do much more than groan at being forced to be awake.

It must be the next day at least when I open my eyes properly for the first time, looking around I see that the room is devoid of people, there is a bottle of water on the table next to me and I can see the bucket and the bags of medical equipment tucked under the table as well. Looking down at myself I see that the IV is still in place, and I'm still in the same t-shirt and shorts, but someone has taken my jogging bottoms and hoodie and I've been left with just the blanket over me. My chest doesn't hurt as much as it has done the past few days and I can actually take a deep breath without it triggering a painful coughing fit. As I pull myself up to sit up against the pillows I hear the door behind me open and someone come in, I turn around to see Derek looking worried and very tired. His face changes to a smile though the instant he sees me awake and I smile weakly back.

"Hey, how long have I been out for?" I say unable to control the yawn that escapes me.

"Almost 3 days now" seeing my shocked expression Derek comes over to sit by my feet. "Don't worry though the IV has helped and your fever has finally started to come down and your lungs sounded clearer earlier this morning."

"Sheesh, I thought it had only been one day, I only vaguely remember a lot of people coming in and out, and sorry to whoever it was that I threw up on, I don't even know who it was" I say sheepishly looking down.

"Oh, don't worry Mark said to tell you that you can have the bill for his shoes, but I don't think he's that bothered, we were more worried because it's taken you so long to wake up again" Derek says.

At this point Alex and Mark walk in from the kitchen and both looks happy that I'm awake, I get the feeling that I've been worrying them all these past few days. "Hey Mark, I've just been told that you were my victim, sorry I didn't even realise someone was there let alone that I was going to end up throwing up on them" I said looking at him trying to look apologetic.

"Hey, you're not the first and you won't be the last to do that to me, we're good kid" he says smiling with the laughter clear in his eyes.

"So, I could really do with a shower now because I've been lying here so long that I can almost feel my clothes trying to walk away by themselves." I say pushing the blanket off my legs and swinging my legs round onto the floor. Unfortunately, this motion doesn't agree with my head that has gotten used to me being horizontal for so long and I start to see stars again, but a hand appears between my shoulder blades pushing me forwards to lean over and I see the bucket being brought forwards again.

"No I'm ok, my head just wasn't quite ready to get up, it's evening out now I just need to go slow" I say holding up my hand to stop Alex bringing forward the bucket.

"Yeah you really shouldn't be getting up yet, you're nowhere near 100% again, you can shower if you want but one of us will be outside the door the whole time, and I want to check you over before you go up just to make sure you're ok" Derek says.

I allow them to do all the checks that they insist on, and about 10 minutes later I'm slowly making my way upstairs with Derek following closely behind, finally I'm alone in the bathroom and peel off the dirty pyjamas that I put on so long ago. I lean in and turn on the shower and step under the spray allowing the last few days to wash off my skin.


	7. Chapter 7

A/N I have to apologise for how long this has taken, I hope that the chapter will make up for the wait, I put a lot of effort into this one and getting the story line accurate to actual places and things, though the ranger lodge is made up I will admit. Thank you again to josophie for your continued support it really means so much to you and your suggestions have been really helpful. I have also started using a nickname 'Char' in this, I thought of using Lottie but didn't really like it, so went with that instead. 😊

Chapter 7

Charlotte's p.o.v.

For the week after I recovered from my illness I had to deal with everyone in the house hovering over me and watching me for any sign of the illness returning, I knew that they were just worried but I couldn't take it. After a week of them all hovering over me I had to get away from them even just for a day, I looked online and found the perfect thing. Bainbridge Island, is across from Seattle and only 35 minutes on the ferry, I've always loved going exploring back in England and done nature photography for years. The island has plenty of woodland and beaches that I can explore and I can even look around the city.

The only problem is I don't have a car, and that will make me extremely limited in what I can do without one to get around, I'm going to have to ask the others if anyone will let me take their car. George will probably be the easiest to persuade, and so when he gets back from the hospital I corner him in the kitchen.

"Hey George, how was your day?" I asked putting on my best smile, knowing I'm going to have to do my best to win him over.

"Oh, it was pretty good I guess, I got too…" George started but I'm just too excited.

"That's sounds great George, so I was wondering, you have a car right and well I thought that maybe if I was to drive you to the hospital and come get you afterwards then you would let me borrow your car on Wednesday?" I said practically jumping up and down on the spot from my excitement, despite George frowning at me uncertainly.

"I don't know Char, you haven't driven in the US have you and besides where do you want to go? I can drop you off in the city now if you want to go shopping or something?" George says looking as though he is hoping for a way out of this but I'm not taking no for an answer.

"I just want to explore, and I've been everywhere in the city already on the bus while you've all been at the hospital, I promise I will be very careful and I'll even fill it with petrol after so it will even make you money by letting me borrow it" I said stepping in front of him to block his exit route when he tried to walk past me. I even pouted out my lips at him and batted my eyelashes, doing my best to persuade him.

"Fine, you can borrow it, but you have to text me every hour so I know you haven't crashed it into a ditch or something and you have to take me to the hospital and come to get me when I text you. And I'm holding you too that tank of gas, my shift on Wednesday starts at 7" George says huffing and finally giving in. I can't help but jump up and down for real this time and wrap my arms around his neck hugging him tight to me.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you George you won't regret it I promise" I say releasing him and leaving a very confused George in my wake as I run upstairs to plan out what I'm going to do, nearly crashing into Derek who was just coming out of the shower when I run past.

"Woah what's got you so excited?" Derek said smiling at me as he rubs his hair dry with a towel.

"George is letting me borrow his car and I'm going to go to Bainbridge Island" I said going to continue on up the stairs to my room but Derek calls me back again.

"Did you tell him where you're taking it? Bainbridge is a ferry ride away and what do you plan on doing there?" Derek asked, I'm starting to think that Derek is behaving like the over-protective big brother that I never has had before, and I'm not so sure I've wanted.

"I said I'm going exploring that covers anywhere basically and I said I'd fill it up with petrol before I bring it back so he's fine with it. And it's been ages since I've been out and done some photography, I have always liked nature photography and I want to get some shots of wildlife here, there's so much more than back in England" I said faster than I think I've ever spoken and without even taking a breath, leaving Derek looking a little confused and possibly even slightly impressed.

"Well I'm not going to say no it sounds like you'll have fun just be careful there are bears and wolves over there so stay close to town and make sure you stay alert, I don't want to have to call my mom and yours to say you got eaten by a bear" Derek jokes to me but I can hear the seriousness in his words.

"Don't worry I know about the wildlife, I've got till Wednesday anyway to plan it all, so I can make sure I've got everything ready to go" I say smiling at him, before charging off up the stairs leaving Derek laughing at me as he continues back to his room.

Up in my room I got out my laptop and re-opened the internet which already had my tabs open from earlier, I booked the ferry tickets that I'd been looking at so that I can take the car across to the island then spent the rest of the evening looking at all the places on the island and wrote out a plan of places I'd like to see and printed out a map of the island. I went to sleep that night dreaming of woodland and wooden walkways along beaches.

By the time Tuesday evening came about I had found my hiking bag and boots and picked out my cargo trousers and a t-shirt and jumper to go with it, then packed my fold-up coat into the bag. Also into the bag went a torch, my DSLR camera with its zoom lens (for wildlife) and wide lens (for landscapes), and a first aid kit which Derek had walked in and thrown onto my bed insisting it was just in case and 'he knows I probably wouldn't need it but he wouldn't let me go without it'. I re-checked my tickets and made sure I had a portable charger for my phone as well as the cable to connect it to the car, before going downstairs for dinner.

"Ahh finally I thought you were going to be checking your bag all night" Izzie says to me when I walk into the kitchen, they have all already sat down and begun eating but I don't mind since we don't really do sit-down dinners here anyway so I usually eat alone anyway. Taking the empty seat I see that Izzie has made spaghetti Bolognese tonight, which she knows I love, I dig in quickly wrapping the pasta around my fork and shoving it into my mouth groaning softly at the perfect flavour.

"Hungry by any chance" Mark's voice comes from next to me joking and I jump not having realised he was even there. I choke on the food slightly nearly inhaling rather than swallowing it and have to force myself to swallow it coughing shortly before looking over at him.

"Yes, got a problem with that, and you really should have a bell or something I didn't even realise you were here tonight" I say before I shovel the next mouthful of food into my mouth smiling at him round the food when he looks horrified at the amount of food I'm eating in one go.

"Derek said I could come round for dinner, and no problem really, just wondering how much food it's possible for you to eat in one go without actually choking" Mark says turning away horrified, before taking a much more civilised amount of food of from his plate.

I swallow the mouthful of food, having to do it in three parts because of how much food there is before I can reply. "I don't know a lot it would seem; besides I need to eat a lot before tomorrow because I'm going to be on the go from 5 till whenever George gets off shift" I said punctuating the sentence with another mouthful, my plate is nearly empty already and I look over at Izzie hopefully.

"There's more in the pot, I was going to keep it for tomorrow night but you're welcome to it" Izzie says smiling at me and indicating towards the oven with her fork, and so I get up and go over re-filling my plate again before coming to sit back next to Mark.

"Oh right, you're going to Bainbridge tomorrow right, Derek said you were going over there, you ready for the wolves and bears" Mark says obviously trying to scare me but I had the perfect retor.

"Completely I've got the zoom lens for the camera so if I can get within 20 metres or so of one I can get some really good shots of them" I say pausing in my eating for a moment to sip on a glass of water to hide my smile.

"What, no way you said you were going to avoid them, you are not going if that is what you're planning, you will end up dead if you try to get close to…" Derek began panicking at me and was half-shouting without realising but pauses when he sees me laughing at him. "Oh you were just joking, right very funny" Derek said scowling at his food while Mark joined in with me laughing at him.

"Don't worry Derek, I have no intention of becoming dinner for anything, I'm not stupid" I said through my laughing. The rest of the dinner passed with mostly the others talking about patients they'd had recently and I just listened only understanding parts of what they were saying but still finding it fascinating when they talk in full medical terminology.

Once I had finished eating I said good night to all of them and after taking a cupcake off the counter and promising George that I would be up in time to drive him, I went upstairs and went to bed after a quick shower.

The next morning, I blinked awake at 5 confused as to what could be going on that would mean I'm awake now, until I hear the noise next to me and realise it's my phone alarm blaring from the bedside table. I reach a hand over and turn the alarm off without even looking and haul myself upright before I accidentally go back to sleep. I've never been a morning person but this morning is special and my excitement for going out overrides my grogginess. I've soon got my cargo trousers on and shirt and jumper, I stick with trainers for now leaving the hiking boots to switch into later once I've got across to the island. I'm already dressed and ready with her lunch packed into the rucksack as well as 6 water bottles though she intended to leave all but 2 in the car, when she went hiking, but she didn't want to be caught without enough to drink if she is in the middle of nowhere. Once I'm stood by the door ready to go I realise that it's only 5:30 and George won't need to leave for at least another hour, no wonder the house has been silent the whole time. I take my bag off and decided to wait on the couch until George is ready, but once I sit down I start thinking about just how comfortable the couch is and slowly sink down into it, falling asleep before I can stop myself.

I jolt awake to the sound of footsteps coming down the stairs behind me and am on my feet in an instant realising what must have happened, George is coming down the stairs and glances at me tiredly before grabbing his coffee and keys and going over to stand by the door.

"Let's go then I guess" George says obviously still half asleep.

"Yes, OK, thank you again for this George I swear I will protect the car with my life there won't even be a scratch on it" I start rambling but end up cutting myself when I realise George isn't even listening. We get in the car and I start the engine pulling out of the drive and towards the hospital, I drop him off right at the hospital entrance and he doesn't even say anything as he gets out walking off leaving me with his car, he must be tired.

I watch his retreating back waiting until he is out of sight then lean into the back pulling my bag onto the front seat and wedging it in the foot well of the passenger side, I open it and pull out the CD holder that I'd shoved in there last night and get out the first of the CDs putting it into the slot waiting as it loads and then I pull out of the car park to the beginning of "I wish I was a Punk Rocker".

As I drove over to the ferry port I went through the whole of the first CD of the collection, I'd made them over the last few days as the perfect playlist for my day out with all my favourite songs, driving up onto the ferry I saw that there is only 3 other cars on the ferry and so I get out to go and stand on the top. When I got up to the top I saw a guy stood leaning on the fencing, he's about 5ft10 so a few inches taller than her and he has dirty blonde hair and is also wearing cargo trousers like me and he has a button up shirt on with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows. He hasn't noticed me and seems content staring out over the water so I walk along and lean against the railing giving him privacy, presuming he probably doesn't want to be bothered.

"Hey" apparently, I was wrong because he has turned towards me, seeing him fully now I see that he is very handsome with green eyes and a slight stubble along his jawline.

"Hey" I reply shyly.

"Beautiful morning to be out isn't it" he says, and I can't help but agree, the way that the sun is just fully emerging on the horizon spreading light across the sky with a myriad of blue and purple spread across the sky and the air is crisp and cool, smelling of the saltwater below them is truly amazing.

"That it is, reminds me of the beach back home" I say.

"Ahh, you're British, I thought you had an accent, so what brings you out here then?" the mystery guy asks.

"I'm starting at university here in September, and so I came out early to get used to the area, and today I thought I'd explore the island since I do a bit of nature photography and thought I'd get some good shots" I say to the guy, and he reaches out his hand for me to shake.

"Well welcome to the island, I live in Seattle but work out in the woods over here as a ranger, so I know most of the island, I'm Doug by the way." He says.

"Charlotte" I reply shaking his hand, which is warm and calloused clearly used to hard work.

"Nice to meet you Charlotte, maybe I'll see you around today, if you want you could head up to the ranger's lodge around 12 and we could have lunch together, then I could show you some of the best spots? I'm always happy to help out newcomers, especially when there as pretty as you" Doug says and I can't help the blush that creeps over my cheeks, I turn my face into the cool breeze coming off the water hoping to cover it.

"Well when you offer so nicely, how could I say no, I was going to get some landscape shots this morning, and maybe go into the city to have a look around, then I could come up to the lodge and if you could show me around and where the wildlife can be found that would be amazing" I say still not quite able to believe this is happening.

"Well, here is my phone number and if you get lost call me and I'll give you directions, but it's pretty easy to find so you should be fine, I'll see you soon" Doug says smiling at me before he goes back to his pick-up truck. I stand and watch him get in before I turn back to the water. Pulling out my phone I see a text from Derek asking if I'm on the island yet and so I drops both him and George a quick update before hopping back in the car since the ferry is nearly all the way across to the other side.

Once I'm off the ferry I head straight up the 305 for Manitou Beach, leaving so early has meant that I got there while the sky is still painted by the sunrise and I set up my camera getting multiple shots of the sky and the water as well as along the beach until I'm happy that I've got some nice pictures. I head back to the car and get in driving up to the forests, where I also spend an hour or so getting some pictures of the woods and even gets lucky a few times seeing an Osprey and some hawks in the treetops, which I get the zoom lens on for just in time to get a few quick pictures which hopefully aren't too blurred from my rushing.

By about 10 I drive back out of the woods and down into the city, I park up in the middle of the city and wonders around picking up some souvenirs and a couple of postcards that I can send to my family and friends back in England. Satisfied that I've explored the city enough I turn my attention to finding this lodge, I still can't quite believe I've agreed to go and have lunch up in the woods with a guy I just met on a ferry but I have a good feeling about Doug and soon enough I find myself pulling up the hill into one of the parking spaces in front of the lodge, seeing his pick-up truck parked next to several other off-road vehicles.

I get out enjoying the sound of the crunch of the gravel under my boots as I walk up to the wooden lodge, it looks as though it's been taken straight from the set off some old western movie with horizontal logs on all sides and a chimney on the roof that I can imagine spewing out smoke in the winter. I walk up the steps and knock on the door firmly, no going back now.

The door is opened by an elderly man who smiles at me. "Hello, can I help you?".

"Umm, yes I met Doug on the ferry earlier and he invited me to come have lunch with him here" I say putting on my best polite voice which I realise may be slightly alienating to Americans but too late now. Fortunately, the elderly man's smile just grows.

"Ahh, he said that he met a pretty young British girl on the ferry, I wasn't sure if he was making it up, well come in side and I'll just go grab him for you" the man says before disappearing into a back room of the lodge. I walk in further looking around the room. There's a sofa in the corner of the room, and a large table in the middle of the room with chairs scattered around it and a bookcase on the other side of the room. I walked over to the table and sat down on one of the chairs.

I looked up when I heard the door open again and see Doug walking into the room he smiles when he sees me. "So you decided to come, I hoped you would. So if we have lunch then we can head out into the woods for the afternoon" Doug says.

"Perfect, I brought some lunch with me so I'll just grab it from the car" I said going outside and grabbing my bag from the passenger side and heading back in just in time to see Doug coming back in with a box with his food in as well. We sit at the table together and eat planning out where I want Doug to show me, he says that he has got to do a certain route and check some areas so he will take me to places and then leave me to take photos and wonder around. He's funny and sweet and I find myself liking him more and more as we continue to talk, when we are ready to leave the elderly gentleman from earlier comes back from the back room to say goodbye, and he leans in to whisper in my ear before I go.

"Doug is a really sweet guy and you should know he didn't stop going on about you all morning, I hope you'll give him a chance" he whispers and I feel my heart flutter at the thought that Doug may like me as well, but I just smile at the man before heading out to get into George's car.

I follow Doug's pick-up into the woods already loving the wild feeling that came from being out here, and soon we reach a clearing where Doug pulls in parking and I do the same. I pick up my rucksack and get out securing it on my back and putting my camera around my neck ready in case I see anything interesting, then go over to where Doug is rummaging through the things he has in the back of his truck. He seems to be looking for something and I step back away from him in shock when he pulls a rifle out, growing up in England I've never even really seen a gun in real life let alone someone who seems to so casually slung one over their shoulder. Doug must notice my apprehension because he looks to me and raises his hands carefully.

"Don't worry it's only for the bears and wolves, I have never actually used it to shoot anything but I carry it around because the day I don't will be the day that I run into one of them and they try to attack" Doug said and I nod accepting his answer because it makes sense, there aren't any big predators in England but out here having the rifle could be the difference between life and death, though I still don't like it.

"That makes sense, I'm just not used to seeing guns, it's fine" I said still a bit spooked from it but forcing myself to move on. Doug leads the way into the woods pointing out birds in the treetops as we go and telling me stories about his job as a ranger from lost hikers to baby squirrels falling out of trees and him nursing them back to health. Soon we reach a hide at the edge of a clearing and he opens the door allowing me to walk in first.

"So, this is the best spot to see wildlife from, you get all sorts of birds and sometimes even otters in the river down there, I figured you could stay here for a bit and get some pictures while I go and check the bird boxes around here and some other stuff then I'll come back for you and we can move onto the East forest and see if we can see anything there" Doug says.

"This looks perfect Doug thank you so much" I said going on tip-toes to kiss him on the cheek, feeling that the time is right, I watch as he blushes ducking his head down at the kiss and he fumbles over his words rushing to get outside.

"Well I'll leave you to it then, uhh bye" and with that he's gone. I look out through the hole along the wall and can already see loads of different animals out there. I get comfortable with my camera and end up taking hundreds of photos of the different animals that pass, about an hour and a half after he left Doug returned and we moved to the next place, this time it was on the edge of a clearing again but there was no hide so I wondered around the edge of the field with my camera staying as silent as possible. This time around I even see some deer passing through and a fox, I've been getting so lucky today and I'm completely focussed on the herd of deer passing through that it catches me off guard when they suddenly startle and start to run away. I assume that it must have been me because I just tried to get closer and may have been too noisy, a few seconds later though my breath catches in my throat and I see why the deer ran.

A pack of 5 wolves have just entered the field only about 30 metres from me, they were running after the herd of deer but seem to give up chase half-way across the field and start to circle around noses to the ground. I can feel my heart hammering in my chest and I'm frozen, not even daring to lower my camera just raising my head slightly so I'm no longer looking through the viewfinder, I stare at these powerful predators only metres away from me. They are still circling and sniffing and a few have begun to howl and cry at each other, they seem to be after something and I feel my thundering heartbeat almost come to a stop when one of them lifts their head and stares straight at me, figuring I will never get the chance again and they've seen me now I press the shutter where it is still lined up on the wolves. The noise of the camera shutter going up and down seems to be enough to trigger than and they all look up towards me, they look more curious than anything as they slowly head in my direction. I don't dare move because I know I can't outrun them to the car, so instead I stay frozen watching as they approach slowly surrounding me on all sides. I never have been one to scream or get scared of things, it's probably because of how I grew up in England but screaming in fear or anything else just wasn't something you did. So instead I stood as tall as I could and tried not to show my fear even though I knew it was probably a losing battle but still hoping they might move on if I wasn't seen as prey. The wolves are starting to look more aggressive now as they growl and form a tighter circle, my time is definitely up, I lower the camera and pick up a stick of the ground readying myself for the oncoming fight I try to take a step back but trip and end up laying on the forest floor, I'd tried to stop my fall but just grabbed uselessly at a branch. Just as the wolves are crouching ready to pounce a gunshot goes off loudly from the clearing, the wolves jump and I turn with the wolves to look at Doug who is holding the rifle up towards the sky, he fires again and the wolves are shaken from there stupor and turn tail fleeing into the woods out of sight.

At least a minute passes without either of us saying anything and my harsh breaths are the only thing breaking the silence, any wildlife that hadn't left because of the wolves was gone now and I listen to the cries and howls of the wolves until they are out of earshot. Suddenly Doug slings the rifle back over his shoulder and runs over to me jumping through the grass and over holes and I get to my feet again, he stops in front of me and seems to be looking me over for injury, finding none he reached out and pulled me into his chest and I can hear his heart pounding as hard as mine. I return the hug just staying pressed against him feeling myself shaking, I have never been in danger like that before, those wolves could have easily killed me and I wouldn't have been able to do anything. I squeeze Doug tighter as I think of what could have happened.

"Thank you… thank you Doug if you hadn't been there… God I… I don't know" I said feeling shaky and scared now that the initial adrenaline rush has left me, and I know I'm babbling but I can't pull myself together enough to say anything properly.

"It's ok, I'm here, I won't leave you again, you're safe" Doug says and I feel his hand come up to the back of my head pulling me in close, and I feel my breath finally coming easier I inhale slowly and let it out again repeating it a few times before finally pulling away again.

"Are they gone?" I ask him looking into the woods where the wolves had disappeared to.

"For now, we should head back to the cars soon, they'll come back to go after the deer again" Doug says and he turns stepping over a clump of grass and starting to walk back into the clearing.

"Yeah, I think I'm done for today" I said following him, still looking over my shoulder occasionally to check nothing is following us. We reach the cars in only about 10 minutes but already the light is dying out across the sky as the sun sets. It's already 6pm by the time we get back to the ranger's lodge again and the sky is a deep blue with the sun already down past the horizon. I park the car in the spot it had occupied only a few hours ago and get out to say good bye to Doug for the night, walking over I see he's fiddling with something in the truck and suddenly he turns to me looking nervous. He holds out his hand to me and I see a piece of paper in it, I take it from him and see that it is a business card for the ranger's lodge, it's got the phone number for the lodge on it, but also he has written a number below it.

"It's my number, I hope this isn't overstepping the mark but I really like you and I hope we can see each other again" Doug says looking incredibly shy and nervous for a guy who just charged towards a pack of wolves.

"I'd like that" I said equally shy, but feeling a surge of confidence, I grab the pen from his truck and write my number down on one of the cards and give it to him. "I really should be getting back, I'm supposed to be picking up George, it's his car but he let me borrow it today" I said.

"Yeah, and I need to get my paperwork done before I can go, so I guess I'll see you at some point" Doug said.

"I'll call you" I said smiling at him waving the card before getting into the car, I pull away waving to Doug, and head down through the forest. Even though I'm in the car I can't help but feel scared again, the wolves circling and crying, I know that they are predators and it's in their nature to attack and eat to survive, but the fact it was me that nearly became their next meal is terrifying. Every shadow on the way back to the ferry became a wolf in my eyes and I am grateful once I'm out on the water heading back across. It's only now that I look down at my hand that I had used to try and catch myself when the wolves were there ready to pounce, I hadn't even noticed that the palm of my hand is split open from the wood, leaving a jagged cut running from my thumb up to the base of my little finger. There is still little bits of wood and mud in the wound, and it needs to be cleaned out really, as I pick at the biggest bit of wood, it causes a trickle of blood to seep around the edges, I guess that first aid kit may be useful.

Suddenly I realise that I haven't checked my phone since we got to the second clearing, which was hours ago now, pulling it out of my pocket I see that George has already texted to say he's ready to go over an hour ago. Then he's texted to say don't worry because Derek is giving him a lift back, but he wants to know where I am, Derek has also texted me a lot more times and he seems to be getting concerned, there's even two missed phone calls from him as well. I still need to fill up the car as well, so it's going to be another 30 minutes at least before I get back, so I decide not to call either of them but instead send them both the same text "I'm on the ferry back now, long story as to why I'm late, promise I'll explain when back". I don't want them thinking anything has gone wrong so I leave it at that, hopefully they'll just think that I got caught up looking around the city or something.

The ferry is coming into the dock and so I get an ace bandage out of the first aid kit and roughly wrap it around my hand to stop me getting blood in the steering wheel and then I drive off the ferry and to a petrol station. Now that I have seen the cut on my hand it's starting to really ache and I have to use my other hand to do everything, the person inside gives me a funny look when I go in to pay but I just smile to reassure them and walk out again. Looking in the mirror in the car I see the reason for the weird look I have bits of sticks and leaves in my hair and there is mud on the shoulder of my jumper, I try to pull the worst of them out but I can only do so much and soon give up.

I pull the car back into the driveway of the house and pause for a moment before I get out, Derek has texted to say that he will be waiting when I get back, I feel like a child again but it's nice to know that he cares enough to get worried about me. I look down at my hand and see that the blood has seeped through the bandage I put over it, Derek is not going to like this. Walking up the steps to the front door I can hear multiple voices coming from inside and my hopes of getting away with only Derek having to hear about my wolf incident. I stick the key in the lock and as I turn it I hear it go quiet inside, and I push the door open to see Derek and Mark sat on the sofa and George and Izzie sat on the armchairs. They all look over when I come in and I try to sound casual.

"Hey everyone, sorry I'm late, I filled the car up George and as promised there's not a scratch on it, so I'm going to go upstairs, bye" I said slowly inching towards the stairs keeping my hand behind my back.

"Wait, you said you'd explain why you're late and you could show us some of the pictures you took, I'm guessing you got to see some interesting things, based on the fact it looks like you spent the day in a bush" Derek said with a knowing glint in his eye. He clearly knows something happened and I'm not going to get away without telling him.

"Well, I'm late because umm you see I met a guy on the ferry this morning and he turned out to be a ranger on the island and he asked me to go up to the lodge for lunch, which I did and then he showed me some of the best spots to see wildlife on the island and well we lost track of time and so I was late … and had a little incident" the last bit I said under my breath hoping they wouldn't hear, still carefully keeping my hand behind my back.

"What was the incident then, do I need to be beating someone up?" Mark asked winking at me, clearly they all though I'd had sex in the woods and that is what I was trying to hide, I blushed a deep red which didn't help my case but assured them.

"No, nothing like that, just umm, well I got to see loads of animals, there was hawks and osprey and I even saw some otters and a herd of deer went past and I was really into taking pictures of them. Doug had to go off and check some bird nests and stuff so he'd left me to it" I said hoping they might just leave it.

"I'm sensing a but coming here, and why have you been holding your hand behind your back, don't think that's feeling anyone" Derek said still looking at me over the back of the sofa.

"Well" I made the mistake of bringing my hand up to make a point and Mark has suddenly gotten up to walk around, and I shove it behind my back again.

"Why don't you tell us the truth now, and let me see your hand" Mark said expectantly.

"Well the deer were moving through and they spooked and I thought it was me or something because I was pretty close to them and they all ran away, I didn't realise that it was because a pack of wolves had moved in on them" I mumbled but they all heard me clearly.

"If you are telling me that you got bitten by a wolf then I am dragging your ass to the hospital now for the rabies vaccination, this isn't England Char the wolves could easily have rabies, come on I'll drive you" Mark says already pulling me towards the door and Derek is up on his feet.

"No, they didn't touch me, mean they were going to but Doug got back in time and he had a rifle with him so he shot it up a few times and they ran off, then we ran back for the car, I just cut my hand on a branch because I tripped trying to get away from them before Doug got there, he saved me so I'm fine" I said and I could see the relief clear in all of their faces.

"Thank god" Mark said but he's still pulling me, this time towards the sofa.

"I'm fine Mark, you can let go now" I said to no effect.

"Sure you are, sit" he says and it's definitely not a request, so I sit down on the sofa. Mark takes hold of my wrist and pulls it towards him, when he turns my hand over revealing the blood that has soaked through on my palm he makes a noise of sympathy.

"I started trying to clean it on the ferry but it started bleeding and I didn't want to get blood all over the car, sorry George if I did" I said.

"Don't worry about it" George said from the armchair and I smiled at him. The smile turned to a hiss though when Mark unwrapped the bandage from my hand, revealing the mess of mud, splinters and blood that is my hand.

"Sorry, but I have to clean it, this might need stitches, though don't worry, you've got me to do it so it'll look good as new" Mark says "Derek have you got a suture kit around here and I'm going to need tweezers and something to clean it.

"I'll go get it" George says leaving the room to go upstairs and Derek has picked u my bag and is rummaging through it.

"I see you took my advice" Derek says pulling the first aid kit out and getting the tweezers and alcohol wipes out of it handing them to Mark.

"Yes, I didn't think I'd actually need it though" I said starting to sound sulky but not really caring.

Mark uses the tweezers to pull each bit of wood out of the wound and wipes it clean with the alcohol wipes, with me holding my breath through most of it to stop myself crying out. Soon blood is running freely off my hand and Derek produces a towel from somewhere that he puts on my lap to stop it getting everywhere. George has re-appeared with the suture kit and I watch as he prepares an injection and hands it to Mark who injects it around the wound. After a few minutes I can no longer feel the pain from my hand and Mark gives it one last more thorough clean before he stitches it up carefully and re-wraps it in fresh bandages.

"So, Doug sounds like you owe him a thank you" Mark said and the blush from earlier creeps back as I reach into my pocket with my good hand.

"Well he gave me his number and I gave him mine, I said I'd call him so I think he wants to see me again" I said showing them the card he gave me.

"Oooohhhh is he cute" Izzie re-appears suddenly sitting on the arm of the sofa making me jump, and Mark & Derek roll their eyes.

"I guess so, he was so sweet as well, and we hugged after the wolves ran off, oh and we kissed earlier as well" I said looking away and Izzie gasped.

"Oh you are telling me all the details… but we can probably do that tomorrow" she trails off at the look on Derek's face.

"Yeah I should probably call it a night, I'll just grab some dinner and go to bed I think" I said getting up and going to the kitchen, I grab some leftovers and a spoon and sling my rucksack over my shoulder before walking upstairs leaving them all downstairs.


End file.
